President Donald Trump abruptly ended an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker and walked out after he was challenged on his false claims with fact-checks.
According to The Independent, the US president walked out of the interview after host question about his false claims regarding the 2020 election and his efforts to reward political allies including rioters who sought to force Congress to overturn the election.
In an interview that aired Sunday, June 7, on Meet the Press, the president said that he would be "disappointed" if Congress failed to pass nearly $1.8 billion in funding for an "anti-weaponization fund" meant to reward those targeted for prosecution by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden.
But after clashing with Welker over his false assertions about voter fraud in 2020, which lead to the January 6 attack on the Capitol and his own prosecution, the president snapped at the anchor, "Let's call it quits, because I've had enough. Thank you, darling."
Trump told Welker, “If it was up to me, I'd pay them the kind of money that they deserve. People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. Many suicides, think of it. I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans. You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that's great. If they don't get it approved, I'd be disappointed.”
Trump and his allies sought to introduce the fund last month, aimed at providing payouts to people federally prosecuted under the Biden administration including the hundreds of Americans convicted of crimes related to January 6.
The fund was challenged in federal court and temporarily halted by a judge. The ensuing uproar among Republicans over the unpopular measure also caused acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to declare that the Trump administration was backing down.
Furthermore, before that explosive moment, Trump had revived his calls for Congress to pass $1.776 billion in funding to award January 6 rioters and others who were prosecuted by the Department of Justice under Biden's presidency, after hundreds of his supporters stormed the Capitol and were arrested for crimes ranging from unauthorized entry to assaulting police and even sedition.
